DTI updates licensing scheme for vape products

MANILA, Philippines – The Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) on Thursday issued an order updating the licensing scheme for vape products sold in the country, with the measure requiring sellers to adopt new marking requirements under the Philippine Standards (PS) system.

The new regulation was announced by the DTI’s office for the special mandate on vaporized nicotine and non-nicotine products, their devices, and novel tobacco products (OSMV) under department administrative order (DAO) no. 24-11 (2024).

The latest issuance contains supplemental technical regulations for two previous issuances, DAO no. 22-06 (2022) and DAO no. 24-02 (2024), both of which cover mandatory product certification procedures for vape and non-nicotine products.

“The import commodity clearance licensing scheme for DAO 22-06 and DAO 24-02 covered products shall no longer be recognized, provided that all covered products with valid ICCs may still be distributed and sold until supplies are exhausted,” rule 1 of the issuance stated.

Previously, vape products that bear ICC stickers were considered by the DTI to have undergone certified quality and safety checks conforming to the PS system.

 Aside from this change in the licensing procedure, the PS certification mark logo has also been updated with a new look.

“The PS certification mark logo issued by the BPS for DAO 22-06 (2022) and DAO No. 24-02 (2024) covered products shall still be honored. However, PS license holders shall be issued and are required to use the DTI-OSMV PS certification mark at the earliest possible opportunity” read the issuance.

Aside from these changes, the new issuance also mandates manufacturers to indicate the volume of the consumable in vapes on the device and on the packaging of the product itself.

For nicotine salt or salt nicotine, the volumes indicated must be in increments of 1 milliliters (mL), 2mL, 3mL, 5mL or 10mL.

For freebase nicotine or classic nicotine, the volumes indicated must be 2mL, 3mL, 10mL, 30mL or 60mL, it added.

 Republic Act No. 11900, more commonly known as the Vape Act, lapsed into law in July 2022, while its implementing rules and regulations (IRR) was released in December of the same year.

 As stipulated under the IRR, the mandatory certification and registration of vape products took effect on June 5, 2024.

To date, the DTI has certified at least nine vape brands, namely DON BARS, KLIQ, ONE BAR, PHANTOM VAPE, RELX, TOMORO, TRUEZ, VAGEND, and X-VAPE.